LARGE-BILLED WATEK THEUSH. 271 



and making preparations for nesting. Here they were indiscriminately 

 in trees, on the ground, or wading on the level slaty bottoms of the shal- 

 low brooks. Frequently they mounted to the upper branches of high 

 trees overhanging the ravines, from whence their loud and mellow song 

 echoed along the winding banks with surpassing sweetness. But 

 whether on the giound, in trees, or in the water, the constant tipping of 

 the tail and balancing of the body, is a reminder of the stiff jerk and 

 nod of the Tatler, which reappears with added grace and style in several 

 terrestrial and aquatic members oiAhe higher groups. 



I have never seen the nest andiiggs of this bird, and copy the follow- 

 ing from Mr. Brewster's account, in the Bulletin of the Nutiall Ornitho- 

 logical Club, iii, 1878, 133. 



"The nest, taken with the female parent, May 6, contained six eggs, -which had been 

 inouliatBd a lew days. The locality was the edge of a lonely forest pool in the depths 

 ot a cypress swamp near White River (Indiana). A large tree had fallen into the shal- 

 low water, and the earth adhering to the roots, formed a nearly vertical, but somewhat 

 irregular wall, abont six feet in height and ten or twelve in width. Near the upper edge 

 of this, iu a cavity among the finer roots, was placed the nest, which, but tor the situ- 

 ation and peculiar character of its composition, would have been exceedingly conspicu- 

 ous. Its presence was first betrayed by the female, which darted off as one of our party 

 brushed by within a few feet. She alighted on a low branch a few rods distant, utter- 

 ing her sharp note of alarm, and vibrating her tail in the usual oharaoteristic manner, 

 but otherwise evincing no particular anxiety or concern. The nest, which is before me, 

 is exceedingly large and balky, measuring externally 3.50 inches in diameter by ti inches 

 in length, and 3.50 inches in depth. Its outer wall, a solid mass of soggy dead leaves, 

 plastered tightly together by the mud adhering to their surfaces, rises in the form of a 

 rounded parapet, the outer edge of which was nicely graduated to conform to the edge 

 of the earthy bank in which ic was placed. In one corner of this mass, and well back, 

 is the nest proper, a neatly rounded, cup-shaped hollow, measuring 2.50 inches in depth. 

 The inner nest is composed of small twigs and green mosses, with a lining of dry grasses 

 and a few hairs of squiriels or other animals, arranged circularly. The eggs found in 

 this nest are of a rounded-oval shape, and possess a high polish. The ground-color is 

 ■white, with a fleshy tint. About the greater ends are numerous large but exceedingly 

 regular blotches of dark umber, with fainter sub-markings of pale lavender, while over 

 the remainder of their surface are thickly spriuKled dottings of reddish-brown. But 

 slight variation of marking occurs, and that mainly with regard to the relative size of 

 the blotches about the greater ends. They measure respectively .75 by 63, .7ti by .64, .75 

 by .63, .76 by .&i, .76 by .62, .75 by .61." 



Gknds Oporoknis. Baird. 



Wings much longer than tail ; the first primary nearly or quite equal the longest. Tarsi 

 elongated ; hind claw as long as its digit. Otherwise, with the generic characters of 

 iSiurua. 



